So researchers are trying to find quit-smoking products that are acceptable and effective to add to the existing range of state-funded nicotine replacement therapy and the drug Zyban - to boost a smoker's chance of quitting the habit permanently.

Subjects preferred snus and Zonnic, which both had significantly fewer gastrointestinal side-effects than gum and resulted in greater reductions in smoking," Dr Caldwell said. "[Zonnic and snus] look like attractive and effective options to help smokers reduce smoking or quit as they're easy to take, people like the impact and they suppress withdrawal symptoms."One of the study's participants, a 70-year-old man who subsequently stopped smoking without any quit-smoking products, said he didn't particularly like any of the trial therapies, although he disliked snus the least. We wonder why the researchers did not encourage the other subjects to just quit "cold turkey." (The Global Research Neglect of Unassisted Smoking Cessation: Causes and Consequences, Simon Chapman and Ross MacKenzie, PLOS Medicine 2/9/2010)

The researchers are now recruiting smokers for a trial to test the effectiveness of a nicotine mouth spray. Dr Caldwell said smokers using patches doubled their chance of quitting if they also used a Nasal nicotine spray.